All You Should Know About Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes have become very popular in recent years. Even though they can be found all year round, they are best grown in spring to fall.

Not only they can be used I in almost any recipe, but they are also tasty and very healthy. They taste like a dessert and contain many essential vitamins and nutrients. If you need more reasons to consume them, just read below:

Nutrition facts

These healthy vegetables have been known as “superfoods”. They have plenty of vitamins and minerals including fiber, iron, A, B, C vitamins, and other. They are also rich in magnesium, a mineral that is essential to the body’s function, and potassium. One sweet potato has more than 10% of your daily potassium intake.

Health benefits

As already mentioned, they contain important nutrients, so eating them provides many health benefits. While many people avoid starchy foods to control their blood sugar, these healthy potatoes are different because they will not cause powerful spikes in blood sugar, but they actually work to keep your blood sugar steady. When boiling them or steaming them, sweet potatoes have a glycemic index (GI) of 50, which is really good.

The nutrients in these healthy potatoes can help lower insulin resistance, meaning that your body is more sensitive to insulin. They also contain antioxidants that help battle the damage done by free radicals and prevent a wide variety of diseases and health problems. Sweet potatoes also contain carotenoids (beta carotene) and have similar health benefits. Many studies have shown that antioxidants can also reduce your risk for cancer.

The high amount of fiber also makes it great for your digestion. Not only does the fiber keep you regular, but it also helps remove heavy metals like mercury from your body. The anti-inflammatory benefit of eating sweet potatoes is another reason to include them in your diet. They have the power to prevent chronic inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, stomach ulcers, multiple sclerosis, and many other diseases.

How to buy and store it

Always buy clean, smooth, firm sweet potatoes with no discoloration or bruises. Choose potatoes that are firm with taut skin and no cuts. The potatoes may vary in size and shape. You should store them in a root cellar, with no moisture, where you store your onions, and regular potatoes. You shouldn’t’ wash them before cooking because will spoil quickly.

Side effects

Sweet potatoes are the nutritional vegetable, but they contain high amounts of calcium oxalates. Because of that, they play a role in creating calcium-oxalate kidney stones, which are the most common type of kidney stones. People with chronic kidney disease and gallbladder problems, who have a hard time processing and excreting oxalates from the body, should ask their doctor before including this vegetable in their diet.

They also contain mannitol that can cause severe gas and stomach pain if your tummy gives you problems often. If you have abdominal pain that is severe, constant and dull every time you eat them, might be a sign that you are intolerant to foods that contain mannitol.